Husband of slain Cornwall woman killed himself in Queens, police say

CORNWALL – The estranged husband of a Cornwall mother found shot to death on Friday was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Queens on Saturday morning, state police said.

Bernard Icart, 46, had been sought as a “person of interest” since Sabine Icart, 44, was found injured in her Clinton Street apartment and died after being taken to St. Luke's Cornwall Hospital.

Investigators distributed a bulletin with his picture and a description of his black Hyundai to police agencies along the East Coast, state police senior investigator Neil Moscato said.

An anonymous tip led New York City police officers to a residence in Ozone Park. Inside officers discovered Bernard Icart dead of a gunshot wound and ruled his death a suicide, state police said.

Moscato did not say who lived at the residence nor whether the gun Bernard Icart used to kill himself was the same one used to kill Sabine Icart. But police believe the case is a murder-suicide, he said.

“They were having domestic issues and he was considered an estranged husband,” he said. “He came up here and for whatever reason, whether to talk to his wife or whether to argue with her, he ended up killing her.”

Sabine Icart was found Friday morning by police responding to a 9:30 a.m. emergency call about an unresponsive woman in Building 3 of Clinton Street Apartments. The mother of four was shot twice, and her subsequent death quickly ruled a homicide.

The Icarts had lived there for a couple of years, said the building's owner. Sabine was a nurse at Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, said one neighbor.

Witnesses told investigators Bernard Icart had moved out sometime within the last few months, police said. Since then he become jealous and accused Sabine Icart of having an affair, police said.

His designation as a person of interest intensified as police struggled to get in touch with him. Investigators checked his parents house in Hollis, Queens, police said.

Witnesses reported that Bernard Icart came there to grab some belongings and then left in a hurry roughly two hours after police were called to Sabine Icart's apartment.

The couple's four children are between the ages of 5 and 10, and were safe with relatives, state police Capt. Joe Tripodo said Friday.